iPhone Mobile Version of RunPee Now Released

Here is our new press release on the BRAND NEW, just released iPhone application, available at iTunes! YAY! We’re so thrilled it’s finally live and ready for $1.99 downloading. Our fresh press relase, for anyone who might like to post this:

SAVES VIEWERS FROM MEGA-SIZED SODAS, “MISSING THE GOOD PART” AND POST-MOVIE RESTROOM LINES

Newly Released iPhone App Let’s Moviegoers Know When to “Hold It” and When It’s Safe to “RunPee”

LOS ANGELES, Cailf. – July 1, 2009 – RunPee.com today launched an iPhone app version of its handy website that lets moviegoers know when it’s “safe” to run and empty their bladders during a film without missing a key part of the flick. The new RunPee app for the iPhone not only has a timer for every movie that lets film goers know exactly when it’s OK to hit the restroom, but it also gives them a quick summary of what happened while they were answering nature’s call. With the new RunPee iPhone app moviegoers can pop out of the theater knowing the only thing they’ll miss is the pain of “holding it” or the dreaded long line at the restroom at the end of the film. The app which can be downloaded from iTunes for only $1.99 covers all new film releases.

Dan Florio, creator of RunPee.com and the new iPhone app, says, “We’re on a mission to save bladders from blowing up in cineplexes across the nation and this new iPhone app is our trusty tool! Every movie has a few scenes that are not crucial to the plot, that you can safely miss and still follow the storyline when you sit back down. This iPhone app lets users know when the coast is clear so they never have to miss a good part again. Our iPhone app gives moviegoers “immunity” from the effects of mega-sized sodas and flushes away those grueling post-movie restroom lines where you have to wait your turn in pain and avoid awkward eye contact with the 30 other people in the restroom with you. Those lines really piss me off.”

Florio created the iPhone app in response to thousands of inquiries from iPhone users at the website RunPee.com who all wanted the same thing – an app version of the site that told them when it was safe to take a leak. Florio wanted to help iPhone users enjoy their movie going experience, quipping, “Because a bladder is a terrible thing to hold.”

Before the iPhone app version of the service, Florio came up with the idea for the website RunPee.com during the 3-hour run time of Peter Jackson’sKing Kong, where he said he wished someone could have told him when to duck out from the movie and, well…run pee. Since then, Florio has seen a lot of movies, paying closest attention to the parts that are okay to miss. The Global Mail reports, “Florio looks for scenes that can easily be summed up in words “like a long car chase” or (are) simply so unexciting they can be recapped without sacrificing drama.”

The RunPee.com website that inspired the iPhone app has been lauded as a novel and important new Internet innovation. Comedy Central called it “the solution to cinematic urination.”CNET hails RunPee.com, “Genius!” while the Calgary Sunnotes, “It’s taken off to become an online and pop sensation.” Entertainment Weekly, KNBC, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, Fox News, Boston Herald, the New York Times, LA Times, Gizomodo and Lifehacker.com have made note of the RunPee.com website. ( See a short 2 minute video about the site produced and aired by the ReelzChannel. )

The new iPhone app has a timer that can be started at the beginning of the film that keeps track of the elapsed time during the movie. This way the user can see at a glance how long they have to hold it until the next PeeTime. An update that is already being worked on will give the iPhone a slight vibration a few minutes before each PeeTime just in case the user forgets. Once in the restroom (or at the concession stand), the viewer can read the “spoiler” to find out what is happening on-screen for the few minutes that they are away.

@Jacquie, Hopefully by now you have the update to the update. Apple did something to the app after we sent it to them that screwed up the Internet connection. We informed them of the screw up and they pushed through the original update that fixed the problem. Sorry for the hassle.

I purchased this app yesterday before going to see Avatar. it seemed to work MOSTLY, and it was nice to know by cue when to go and what was going on. However, I cannot for the life of me get the vibrate to work. I tried it with my phone on silence AND on audible to see if that would work. I even made sure my phone was not locked when the alert time came up next. Please advise. If this can get fixed I will go out and give my first ever iPhone app review.

I also purchased this app recently because I was planning on seeing Avatar. But all of my testing shows that I’m having the same problem. Once the screen goes black (Auto-Lock or by hitting the power button), THE VIBRATION AND THE ALERT MESSAGES NEVER OCCUR! If you hit a button on the iPhone and “slide to unlock”, you can see that the app is still running and the timer is still counting up. If the screen is lit when an alert is scheduled, IT WORKS! But once the screen goes black you’re screwed. 🙁

If the iPhone is active/awake, then the vibrate works. However, if the iPhone has gone to sleep, the timer still runs, but the vibrate does not work. This does limit the usefullness.

Also, used during Avatar and found that the time is incorrect for one of the breaks. Looks like it is in hours:minutes instead of minutes. The break says 133 minutes, but it is really for 1 hour and 33 minutes or 93 minutes.

@Bryan, Thanks for letting me know about the peetimes. I went back and fixed them all. They were correct on the website but incorrect on the iPhone app.

Yeah, that’s a problem with the iPhone. It won’t let apps wake it up and vibrate. I wish there were something that we could do about that but it’s up to Apple so I wouldn’t count on it ever changing. One thing you can try is set the timer and then switch over and play music. That should keep the phone awake while the music is playing and let the timer vibrate the phone.

I’m not sure if that would work. My iPhone goes dark/sleep when music is playing, so I would think we would have the same issue.

I don’t know about vibrate, but there are some apps that do turn on the display (still locked) and display a message. I’ve seen this with Calendar, SMS, BarginBin, Eliminate. I seems to be a setting for those apps under Settings->Notifications.

I know some of those are built in apps and/or use push data, so that might have something to do with it. But if you could tap into that, at least turning on the display and showing a message would be a good trigger (e.g. if you keep the phone on your lap, would probably notice the glow).

@Bryan, I’ll ask RockSoftware to look into that. I was told that 3rd party apps cannot wake up the iPhone. Sending an SMS message is worth looking into but the problem would be that their arrival times are unreliable.

@Dan.
Thanks. Some additional info that may help – I read about a few more apps that do messages that way (parking meter app is another one). Looks like they all use Push to do it, so I’m not sure if it is the app that wakes it up, or a message sent to the phone.